Caster-wheel.



PATENTED MAY 10, 1904.

0. E. MYERS.

GASTER WHEEL.

APPLIOATION FILED MAY 20, 1903.

N0 MODEL.

Umxmlbm C.E.MYERS.

UNITED STATES Patented May 10, 1904.

PATENT OFFICE.

OASTER-WHEEL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 759,299, dated May 10, 1904.

Application filed May 20, 1903.

To all whom it Wmy concern:

zen of the United States, residing at Syracuse, in the county of Kosciusko, State of Indiana, have invented certain new'and useful Improvements in Caster-Wheels; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to caster-wheels; and it has for its object to provide a caster which may be manufactured at a low price, which will be simple in construction, there being few parts and no nuts or parts to get out of order, and which will be durable and in which there will be employed a double wheel having ball-bearings and a stem or spindle pivotall y connected with the wheel-frame in such manner that there will be a minimum of friction in the pivotal movement of the frame.

In the drawings forming a portion of this specification, and in which like numerals of reference indicate similar parts in both views, Figure 1 is an elevation of a caster embodying the present invention. Fig. 2 is a central vertical section of the caster.

Referring now to the drawings, the present caster comprises a wheel-frame including the spaced vertical members 5 and 6, connected at their upper ends by the web portion 7, the members 5 and 6 being tapered in the direction of their lower ends, so that they are substantially triangular in form. Through the lower ends of the members 5 and 6 is passed an axle 8, the ends of which are reduced in diameter, and their extremities are headed or riveted over against the outer faces of the members 5 and 6. On the reduced portions of the axle 8 are fixed bearing-cones 9.

Upon the axle 8 is disposed the double caster-wheel 1,0, the ends of the central bore of which are enlarged, as shown at 11, to receive the minor ends of the bearing cones 9, together with the balls 12, which are disposed between the bearing-cones and the adjacent walls of the wheel-hub.

As will be seen from the drawings, the riveting over of the ends of the axle 8 would result in the enlargement of the reduced portions of Serial No. 157,987. (No model.)

the axles within the cones and the perforations in the members 5 and 6, which would prevent rotation of the cones upon the axle. It will also be seen that this riveting-over operation willtightly bind the cones between the ends of the enlarged portion of the axle and the inner faces of the members 5 and 6, so that the axle and cones will be prevented from rotation both with respect to each other and the members 5 and 6.

In the assembling of the several parts of the device the wheel is engaged with the axle, the balls are put in place, and the cones are then engaged with the reduced portions of the axle, after which the members 5 and 6 are sprung su liieiently far apart to allow the ends of the axle to be inserted in the perforations in their lower ends. The single operation of riveting over the ends of the axle, as described above, is now performed, which not only prevents the disengagement of the axle from the perforations, butalso prevents movement of the several parts, as described.

In the upper face of the web 7 of the wheelframe of the caster is an annular groove 13, which forms one race member. A hollow frusto-conical stem 14% is provided for the caster, and its major end is flared to form the annular flange 15, which has an annular concentric groove 16 in its lower face, forming a race member that cooperates with the groove 13 to receive bearing-balls 17. To hold the stem 14 to the wheel-frame, a rod 18 is passed through the web 7 concentric to the groove 13 and extends upwardly through the stem and through the flange 19, which is formed at the upper end portion of the stem. The upper end of the rod 18 is riveted over onto the flange 19, while the lower end thereof is against the lower face of the web 7, the length of the rod being such that the flange 15 is held in close relation to the web 7, but spaced sufficiently far therefrom to permit of free rotation of the frame with respect to the stem. The flange 19 being formed slightly below the upper end of the tubular stem, the head at the upper end of the rod 18, formed by riveting the latter, lies below the upper end of the stem, so that when the stem is inserted in the leg of a piece of furniture the rod is protected and may rotate in the flange 19 as the wheel-frame is rotated with respect to the stem.

In the use of the caster the stem is slipped into the socket of the furniture after the manner of the ordinary caster, and as the wheelframe turns with respect to the stems the friction is at a minimum by reason of the fact that the weight of the furniture is supported upon the balls 17, and it will be noted that the axis of the stem 14: is at one side of the axle 8, so that as the furniture is moved the Wheel readily follows.

What is claimed is- As an article of manufacture, a caster consisting of an inverted-U-shaped frame having transversely-alining perforations in its sides, an axle having its end portions reduced and shoulders at the inner ends of the reduced portions, said reduced end portions being fitted in the perforations of the sides of the frame, bearing-cones fitted upon the reduced end portions of the axle between the shoulders and the sides of the frame, the extremities of the axle being riveted against the outer faces of the sides of the frame, whereby the reduced end portions of the axle are upset and expanded in the cones, the sides of the frames and the cones being clamped between the riveted ends of the axle and the shoulders, and an attachingstem connected to the frame.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

CLYDE E. MYERS.

\Nitnesses:

MICHAEL F. MYERS, CHAS. (J. MYnRs. 

